For all the up to date information on the amazing 2025 BMW Clubs Australia Car Nationals hosted by BMW Drivers Club Melbourne please go to the dedicated website.

On Friday 17 March, St Patricks day, we (Graeme Bell and I) headed to Tullamarine Airport to board a flight to the Gold Coast to join our fellow BMW Club members for the 2023 Clubs Australia Nationals. 

We were met at the airport by one of our members Paul Holiday, who is one of the managers of the airport security.  We had very special treatment, which was great.  

We went straight through to the Virgin Lounge to relax before boarding our flight, this time flying Business Class, to make me comfortable after my total shoulder replacement only seven days prior.  It’s such a lovely way to travel and once you do it, unfortunately there will be no going back.  

Our flight was on time and very comfortable.  Arriving at the Gold Coast, we collected our luggage and headed to the taxi rank to head to the Twin Towns Resort for check in. 

It was lovely to be greeted by the members of the BMW Club Gold Coast in the reception area of the Sebel Hotel with a warm smile and a friendly attitude.  While Graeme did the hotel check in, I registered for the Nationals. I was presented with a beautiful welcome pack with some BMW lifestyle products and some great car care products from Bowden’s.

We went up to the room, which was a lovely large room with a beautiful view of the ocean and Surfers Paradise in the distance. 

Our program for Friday was a meet and greet night at the Twin Towns, where we got to meet up with our friends from other states.  I love these events as you get to catch up with people you have met at previous Nationals and also make new friends along the way.   

The night was fairly relaxed, but the dress code was “after 5,” which was nice to see most turn up in their finery.   The night was soon over and it was back to the room for a good nights’ sleep for a full day of cars on Saturday. 

Saturday was a fine hot sunny day in Coolangatta.  The show and shine was at Elizabeth Park, which is just a short drive or nine minute walk up the beach front for those only wanting to look at the cars.

We got up early went for a nice walk along the beach before breakfast. When we returned to the hotel we enjoyed a lovely buffet breakfast before heading out in the hot weather to enjoy the beautiful cars in the show and shine. 

What a beautiful spot to hold this display, right on the beach front with the ocean and sand just metres away from approximately 60 beautiful BMWs which were either on display or lined up ready for judging.   

It was great to see so many members taking it very seriously, out there cleaning their cars to make a great show for the day. 

A small group of us had lunch at the Coolangatta surf club which was just what we all needed after being out in the heat for several hours. 

I had a quick hair appointment, as long thick curly hair and humidity do not mix. 

We went back to the hotel for a few hours rest before heading in a group to Currumbin Surf Club for a beautiful buffet dinner with an amazing view of both Surfers Paradise, back to Coolangatta and Tweed Heads.  The thing I love most about the Nationals is you get to either catch up with friends from the interstate clubs or you get to meet new members who have the same passion as you.  On the Saturday night, we had the pleasure of sitting with Clive, one of our club members, and Linda and Tim who are actually members of several clubs but reside in the hinterlands of the Gold Coast.   We laughed and told stories about our respective adventures and had a brilliant night.  We look forward to catching up with them both at Challenge Bathurst later this year. 

Sunday was another beautiful day on the Gold Coast and there were a few different groups who went either on the planned drive or some of the younger guys and girls went off to find some other fun roads to explore.  

Unfortunately due to my shoulder replacement surgery and the fact we didn’t have a car, we stayed back at the motel and caught up with a few of our friends from BMWDCNSW, which also made for a nice relaxing afternoon, spent by the riverside enjoying a few drinks, food and again lots of laughter over similar stories. 

We had a quick rest before the presentation dinner and then got changed into our glam clothing for a special evening of awards from the weekend.  

The room looked lovely with all the awards, banners and table decorations. 

We had a lovely presentation from the Service Manager from Gold Coast BMW, and it was great to hear that they are part of Autosports Group, who own several of the dealerships in Melbourne that support our club too.  It is a very small world in the car industry. On chatting with him after his presentation we found that we have mutual friends.  A very small world.

We had great food again, great conversations around the table and awards were presented throughout the night. 

Now it was time for the BMW Drivers Club Melbourne presentation and strangely enough, I was a little nervous. Possibly due to the fact I was in quite a bit of pain by this stage with my shoulder.  

Graeme accompanied me up to the stage to help hold things and our presentation started.  

It was great to see the room fixated on the PowerPoint presentation and it was even better to have cheers and applauds from the room after it was over. 

So, what does this mean?  We, BMWDCM, will be now holding the next Nationals in Melbourne in 2025. We have already done a lot of work preparing for this event and we expect it to be a lot of fun for all who attend.  

Thank you again for all the members for the BMW Gold Coast Nationals team who welcomed us so warmly in 2023 and we look forward to greeting you all equally as warmly in 2025.

Jo Mawson | Member #2
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

Click here to download and complete the Expressions of Interest form for the 2023 Nationals.

Easter 2019

One of the many benefits of being a member of an Official BMW club is that you automatically  become a member of a national and international family.  You have access to events organised by any Official BMW club worldwide.

At the Australian level BMW Clubs Australia is our umbrella group, representing all the Australian BMW clubs at the International Council and organising a national get together every two years, called “the Nationals,” traditionally over Easter.

This a is great opportunity to meet, or catch up with, BMW club members from different parts of the country – people you may not get to meet any other way but who share a passion for cars and BMWs in particular.

One year the Nationals are for the car clubs, the next year its bike clubs.  2019 was for cars.

The usual format is registration on Good Friday afternoon followed by a meet and greet in the evening with a Show of Excellence (Show and Shine by another name) and motorsport on the Saturday. Sunday is usually a drive day with a presentation dinner in the evening.

The meet and greet on Friday evening was a stand up cocktail format event at the Nationals “base”, the Novotel St Kilda.

Without the constrictions of seating, this provided an excellent opportunity to freely move around and talk with different people over the course of the evening. 

Having been to five previous Nationals there were quite a few people we knew or had met before, so it was good to catch up with them, find out what is going on in other BMW communities, swap experiences and generally trade opinions on where BMW is going as we head into the mysterious world of electric vehicles and hybrids.

We also encountered some new faces. It was particularly pleasing to meet some members from South Australia where the BMW Club.

Altogether it was a very enjoyable and enlightening evening.

Saturday dawned with weather that was just about perfect for a car show.

The raised area between the grandstand and the pits, overlooking the pit lane and track, was a perfect location for the show and surprisingly, quickly filled up.  This is one of the nicer problems to have as an organiser but fortunately there was plenty of space adjacent to the display area for the overflow. There were some really nice, and unique cars there which do not often get out on show.

Having 43 cars to be judged was an excellent response but made a lot of work for the judging teams.  Each pair of judges look at a different aspect of each car - I had volunteered to be a judge and was allocated interiors.

Judging is pretty easy if only a few cars present to a high standard.  But in this case we had a hard job! Scoring is done on a comparative basis, that is, the best gets a score of 100 and the rest get lower scores based on that. The rules for this sort of competition are that if the car can not be improved by cleaning it is not marked down. So, not a concours event where originality and perfection (eg no paint chips) are important. 

Such was the level of preparation that nine cars scored over 90 on interior.  It was very hard to fault several cars, which is commendable.

With 43 cars to get through, one has to make a decision pretty quickly on each of the listed areas (dashboard, front carpets, etc). five minutes per car still works out to nearly four hours!

Although judging is fairly hard work (I was physically exhausted by the end), it is enjoyable.  A forced opportunity to look at so many different and lovely cars, some of which we don’t usually get to see, with their variously endearing qualities. 

We had a fabulous weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the Nationals.

Lawrence Glynn | Member #3
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

On Sunday, two drives were offered, finishing at the RACV Club at Healesville. 

The longer drive was intended to use the Warburton-Marysville loop, but portions of that road had been closed by fires earlier in the week so an alternative drive was selected.  

It took exactly two   roundabouts  for half the    group to go the wrong way,  but the errant cars were corralled by one member who lived locally and led them to rejoin the route at St Andrews.  From there we went up the narrow, twisty road to  Kinglake then cruised through scenic but dry countryside to a coffee stop at Yea.  

We then cruised back through Toolangi and enjoyed the twisty road back down into Healesville.  

Remarkably, the group arrived at exactly the same time as the shorter-drive group.  

The RACV Club is beautifully situated, looking across gardens and the golf course to the nearby mountains.There was plenty of opportunity to mingle over pre-lunch drinks.  

In the forecourt, a display was arranged of each numeric model of BMW from 1-er to 8-er – with an X5 looking on to represent the X range (unfortunately no Zs present).  

A good lunch and a viewing of the display brought the drive day to an end.

Peter Williams | Member #36
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne

After lunch, we had the option of travelling on our own or in a group back to St Kilda.  I decided to return to St Kilda via GPS with no tolls selected, resulting in a very interesting drive through the Yarra Valley.

After a bit of a rest, I got cleaned up and dressed for the presentation dinner. We all loaded onto the waiting bus and travelled to the MCG where we were welcomed by the MCG staff and shown the MCG sports museum.  At the museum we were able to wander around at our leisure for 30 minutes or so.  

Then it was up to the Jim Stynes Room for the presentation dinner, presenting of awards for the show and shine and a few speeches including the announcement of the next nationals to be held in Canberra 2021!  

After a great night, it was back onto the  bus to the Novotel.

Monday morning I had a relaxed breakfast with SA member, Jamie and his son, then packed up my room and car, signed out from hotel and with a few goodbyes to fellow BMW club members and set off to Torquay and the Great Ocean Road, destination Warrnambool.

Mike Summers | Member 
BMW Drivers Club of SA

Towards the end of Sunday evening, I announced that BMW Car Club Canberra will be hosting the BMW Clubs Australia Nationals in 2021. 

Although I didn’t want to be controversial, I did announce that we will be breaking tradition and moving away from Easter. This is for a number of reasons, mainly because the National Folk Festival is held in the ACT over Easter and finding accommodation is near impossible. I was pleasantly surprised to see that overall this news was well received. 

The dates that were selected coincide with Canberra Day in the ACT, Labour Day in Victoria, Adelaide Cup Day in SA and Eight Hours day in Tasmania.  Although not a long weekend for all, it does make allowances for a number of states.

There are plenty of positives to come from this too - better weather, extra attractions such as the Balloon Festival, Lights! Canberra! Action! Film Festival and various other activities that will help highlight the ACT.

We are delighted to be hosting the Nationals, it will be some 18 years since it was last hosted in the Nation’s Capital and we really hope to make it the best one yet!

Luke Wise | Member 
BMW Club Canberra